Gig review: Taylor Swift ‘Reputation’ tour at Optus Stadium

The first stop of Taylor Swift’s Australian and New Zealand Reputation tour kicked off Friday night at Optus Stadium and what a sensational time it was. This is the first-time Perth’s stadium has had a female perform as a headlining act and Tay-Tay certainly brought her endgame—and it will be something her Swiftie fans will never forget.

The show commenced at 7pm with New Zealand sibling duo, Broods, as the opening act. Georgia Nott reminded me of a little pixie dancing around the stage in her pink outfit with hair and makeup to match, while her older brother Caleb Nott got crazy in gold foil overalls. With their electronic and Indi pop vibe and Georgia as the lead vocalist, it was hard not to get groovy. Their stand out songs were Heartlines, and then Peach, their newest single, with its catchy lyrics, finished their act. Broods were fun to watch and you could tell they were honoured to play in Perth for the night.Up next was British singer Charli XCX, she brought energy to the stage and got the crowd hyped up, dancing along to her party songs. She opened with Boom Clap and by then the air in the stadium begun to feel more electric as she sang her more popular songs including I Love It, Break the Rules, Dirty Sexy Money and her new single collaborated with Troye Sivan 1999. Still bouncing around on stage, Charli performed Fancy as the last song and went out with a bang.Fans were left with anticipation as they waited for one of the biggest artists to take the stage. Taylor Swift hasn’t been in Perth since 2013, so this tour was set to see a revamped Taylor from the original and mellow sound of her songs from albums such as Speak Now, Red and 1989. The 10-time Grammy Award-winner silenced the tension when she appeared on stage at 8:45. The roar from the crowd was phenomenal. Dressed in a black sequined body suit and knee-high boots she opened with Ready for It and with an immense buzzing atmosphere her fans answered that question. Each ticketholder received a gift from the superstar, a wristband that will light up and sync to her music, and from the oval, the grandstands were filled with magical, blinking stars.The entire stage production was stupefying, with giant snakes, confetti and the massive screen curving across the stage provided quality visuals. Her girl gang of dancers and back up singers pulled the performance together with amazingly choreographed dance routines. The first throwback to her country roots was a medley including Love Story, Style and You Belong To Me followed by three songs in a row from the Reputation album, Gorgeous, Look What You Made Me Do and I Did Something Bad.The first act had already covered a variety of her songs and it was exciting to see what she had in store for us next. Taylor didn’t just stick to the main stage, she floated around the stadium on suspended props and sang a few more songs like Delicate and Shake It Off; and while it started to sprinkle with rain, she assured us she wasn’t going anywhere. Taylor really shone in the spotlight when she performed acoustic versions of songs Dancing With Our Hands Tied and I Knew You Were Trouble on her guitar. This was a nice nostalgic moment for her infatuated fans, who were grateful for this stripped back rendition.

Now back on the main stage, she sang more songs from her current album while the props and pyrotechnics exceeded to be exceptionally eye-popping. Taylor wound up the show with a solo piano piece of 2010 song Long Live and current track New Year’s Day. The finale went all out with everyone on stage putting in every little bit of energy they had left for Taylor’s song This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.The Reputation tour was one of the most impressive concerts to hit Perth, and despite Taylor’s current album receiving mixed reactions for the newfound dark and electronic sound, it was certainly a spectacular experience.

Taylor Swift continues her Reputation tour to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland until early November.